211
See also: The Waste Land 213 ■ The Trial 242 ■ The Book of Disquiet 244 ■
The Outsider 245 ■ Waiting for Godot 262BREAKING WITH TRADITION
the hours. Although he ultimately
abandons any attempt at dignity,
and refuses to appeal to his family
or assert his inner humanity, he is
momentarily moved by his sister’s
violin playing and lured from his
room to listen. With this episode,
Gregor briefly refutes his outward
“beastliness” and attempts to
assert his authentic self, but this
becomes another opportunity for
the family (and their lodgers) to
revile and abuse him—the hostile
audience contributing further to
his sense of shame and alienation.Surrender to the absurd
Kafka’s heroes do not usually
conquer angst; instead, they
continually seek empirical solutions
to outlandish puzzles, often under
extraordinary conditions. His longerworks, such as The Trial and The
Castle, describe unresolved quests,
defined by paradox and instability
of meaning and interpretation.
Metamorphosis, although illogical
and nightmarish, is a departure
(arguably in a more “existential”
direction) because even the drive
to solve the puzzle and finish
the quest is abandoned. Gregor
experiences a kind of revelation
through surrender in the
denouement of the novella.
Interestingly, Kafka is not
known to have declared himself
an existentialist, although he
acknowledged the influence of
Kierkegaard and Dostoyevsky,
two key figures in existentialism.
It was Sartre and Camus who
appropriated Kafka into the
movement after his death. ■Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was the eldest
of six children of Ashkenazi
Jewish parents in Prague.
Born in 1883, he was educated
in a German elementary
school followed by the state
gymnasium (selective school).
He studied law at university
in Prague, where he met Max
Brod, who posthumously
edited and published most
of Kafka’s works.
By 1908 Kafka was working
in an insurance company but
focusing on his writing. His
work was interrupted by poor
health and he was diagnosed
with tuberculosis in 1917.
Kafka’s personal life
was troubled: his Letter to
His Father portrayed an
authoritarian father who
alienates his son; and he
had a series of unsuccessful
relationships with women. In
1923 he moved from Prague to
Berlin to live with a lover, but
worsening poor health meant
a return to his family in
Prague, where he died in 1924.Other key works1913 The Judgement
1922 A Hunger Artist
1925 The Trial
1926 The Castle
1966 Letter to His FatherMetamorphosis in the novel
Gregor
The most obvious metamorphosis
in Kafka’s book is Gregor’s physical
transformation into an insect,
though this is paralleled by the
psychological changes as he
learns to deal with his new state.Grete
The book also charts the
metamorphosis of Gregor’s sister
from a girl into a woman, and the
change in her attitude toward
taking care of Gregor—from love
and kindness to duty.The Samsa family
During the course of the book,
the fortunes of Gregor’s family
change from hopeless to hopeful.US_210-211_Metamorphosis.indd 211 08/10/2015 13:07